All Articles Tagged Icontrol

Julie Jacobson | 03/05 09:08 AM, 0 Comments

Xfinity is easing consumers into the smart home. When it launched its home automation service in 2010, the cable company called it Comcast Home Security. Now Comcast is Xfinity and the service is called Xfinity Home. Period. “We had planned the name change for quite some time,” says Mitch Bowling, SVP and general manager, new businesses, Comcast Cable. “When we launched the service in 2010 in Houston, consumers did not really understand what the smart home and home automation was, but security did resonate so we decided to go out… View this story

Julie Jacobson | 06/21 07:53 AM, 1 Comment

In what may be the biggest money-raise in home automation history, iControl has secured another $50 million in venture capital. The company, which powers ADT Pulse and a start-up home automation initiative from Comcast/Xfinity, raised the money from Cisco, Comcast Ventures, Intel Capital, Rogers Communications and Tyco International. Tyco is the parent company of ADT, iControl’s first substantial customer. Tyco also is the parent of alarm manufacturer DSC, which announced in April that it too would offer a home automation system based on the iControl platform. iControl provides a SaaS… View this story

Julie Jacobson | 06/16 10:42 AM, 0 Comments

iControl Networks, based in Palo Alto, Calif., provides the home automation engine behind ADT Pulse and Xfinity Home Security. But is the platform also being rolled out by Time Warner Cable? Multichannel News thinks so. The excellent news resource for the cable industry reports today that a new home control offering from Motorola Mobility (4Home) and Honeywell will compete with iControl, “whose customers include Comcast, Time Warner Cable and ADT Security Services.” Do they know something I don’t know? I know that TWC is offering Honeywell home security systems in… View this story

Julie Jacobson | 06/16 07:49 AM, 5 Comments

Motorola Mobility (NYSE: MMI) is building a turnkey security/home automation system with the help of Honeywell Security Group, putting the duo in direct competition with iControl and Alarm.com (and possibly Honeywell's own Total Connect 2.0) -- all providers of SaaS (software as a service) for remote home monitoring and control. Motorola began its latest foray into the connected home last year when it acquired 4Home, a developer of home-control software. But 4Home never really had a product to sell with its home automation platform. That’s where Honeywell comes in. The… View this story

Julie Jacobson | 06/08 05:50 PM, 4 Comments

Today we learn a few things about Xfinity Home Security that we hadn't reported before: The monthly cost for the security/home automation service is cheaper than most, but hardly free; six more cities will get the service after last year's launch in Houston; and Xfinity will do its own security installations, rather than use a third-party provider. And one more thing: Xfinity will use iControl SMA, the home-control platform formerly known as uControl. Just as we suspected. Neither Xfinity nor iControl has made a formal announcement about the iControl deal,… View this story

Julie Jacobson | 05/24 08:16 AM, 9 Comments

Home automation product developers now have a second source for buying their Z-Wave RF components: Japan’s Mitsumi Electric Co., which calls Z-Wave a "hoped-for wireless communications technology for HAN (home area network)." Previously, manufacturers had no choice. They could only buy their Z-Wave wireless technology from Sigma Designs (NASDAQ: SIGM), the company that now owns Z-Wave creator Zensys. Sigma’s lock on Z-Wave chipsets has inhibited Z-Wave’s adoption among major international brands that don’t want to be beholden to a single source. They want competition among vendors and assurances that they… View this story

Julie Jacobson | 04/18 08:19 AM, 0 Comments

Since announcing its new home security and automation system in 2010, Xfinity (formerly Comcast) has said little about its service, including whose products the cable giant would use. That hasn't changed, but at least there there has been some movement from Xfinity in the past month. Comcast.com/homesecurity used to feature only home control systems based on iControl – just like the systems offered by ADT Pulse. Recently, however, Xfinity began showing products based on uControl – the organization that "merged" with iControl in November 2010. Enter the Xfinity Home Security… View this story

Julie Jacobson | 04/18 07:53 AM, 0 Comments

CE Pro speculates that Xfinity/Comcast has selected the ZigBee-based uControl platform for its remote home management system. Is that such a good idea? Since announcing its new home security and automation system in 2010, Xfinity (formerly Comcast) has not declared a vendor partner. The cable giant still isn’t saying, but the Web site points to uControl. Originally, Xfinity showcased on its Home Security site a solution based on iControl, the same platform that powers ADT Pulse. Recently, however, a former iControl rival called uControl showed up on the site. uControl… View this story

Julie Jacobson | 04/12 10:52 AM, 5 Comments

It takes a lot of capital to run a home automation business. Just ask iControl, which is seeking to raise $30 million on top of the $45 million-plus it has already raised. iControl Networks Inc., a provider of remote home monitoring and control systems, filed a Form D with the SEC on April 8, indicating an offering amount of $29,999,436. The document shows that $28.5 million has already been spoken for, leaving $1.5 million left to sell. Of that, $161,100 will go to pay off a bonus to one or… View this story

Julie Jacobson | 04/12 08:57 AM, 4 Comments

More than four months after AT&T acquired the home automation developer Xanboo, dealers received their first correspondence from the new owner – a certified letter that “your Agreement shall be terminated” on July 5. “I have been in this industry for over 20 years and have never seen something so bizarre as what AT&T did with Xanboo,” says Michael Houser of Electronic Eye Security Inc., based in Seal Beach, Calif. In any case, the move is not surprising. AT&T certainly did not want to trifle with a bunch of security… View this story